1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a system for supporting management decisions associated with manufacturing of service supply chains that span from a point of creation to a point of consumption and, more particularly, is directed to a system that allows the various decision makers in the supply chain to view the supply chain from their own perspective, obtain information and evaluate decisions concerning past, current and future performance with respect to a diverse set of often conflicting goals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of manufacturing database management and inventory control systems exist today. Each of these systems views the process from the narrow viewpoint of the goals of such a system. For example, inventory control processes tend to determine when the inventory of an item is projected to be depleted and when to order goods to prevent such depletion. The inventory control process does not generally take into account the problems associated with availability of materials and machines to satisfy the inventory demand. On the other hand the manufacturing control process considers the availability problem but does not take into account the effect of a sales promotion that will deplete an inventory faster than projected. A marketing department in preparing a sales promotion will often not consider the effect that promotion will have on availability, inventory and profit margin but tends to focus on sales goals. What is needed is a system that will support managers with each of these view points in understanding the effect of the various decisions that can be made on the supply chain as a whole both currently and into the near future.